The Nautilus
by Ryo314
Summary: Charlie knew things were going to get interesting the moment he saw a very nervous Liam Keller enter his office.
1. Chapter I

Title: The Nautilus

Author: Ryo314

Rating: T

Spoilers: Breaking Point

Disclaimer: I don't even know if these things mean anything, but for the record, I do not own Numb3rs.

Summary: Charlie knew things were going to get interesting the moment he saw a very nervous Liam Keller enter his office.

Note: I went back and redid this story using some suggestions I got in my reviews because I intend to write a sequel in a different show. I hope you enjoy and review. Chapter 1/4.

**The Nautilus**

Chapter I

"_Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Intelligence is not trying."_

Liam Keller sipped at his drink and then adjusted the tie he was wearing. He should have been excited, or at least more interested than he was acting. He was at a math conference attended by some of the greatest mathematical minds in the country with one of his professors-who doubled as his mentor-but his mind was far from the small talk of the attendees. Instead, his mind was on girl who had left the conference about half an hour before.

Liam took another sip of his drink and sighed; there was a knot forming in his stomach, and he wanted nothing more than to go outside and make a phone call. Better yet, he would have really liked to just return to his hotel. However, he'd been told that he needed to act as normal as possible, and leaving an event that anyone else in his position would kill to be at would not be classified as "acting normal."

"You really need to calm down, Liam," said a voice to his left.

"I'm fine, Prof. Gordon."

"Really? Because if your hands start to shake any worse, you could be used as a Richter Scale." Liam looked to his professor. "We are in California."

Liam looked down at his trembling hands and then spoke softly. "I can't help it, Prof. Gordon; Emmy left. She wasn't supposed to leave."

"Franklin went with her. Besides, it's hard to keep a mind such as Amelia's entertained with the pompous prattle of scholars." Prof. Gordon gave a polite smile and wave to two men who walked past.

"I can't help but think that something is going to go wrong."

"If you keep thinking like that, something will." Prof. Gordon sighed and waved for Liam to follow him. "I have someone I would like to introduce you to."

Liam sighed and nodded. He followed Prof. Gordon across the hall, waiting rather impatiently-and doing a poor job of hiding it-when Prof. Gordon got stopped by another colleague. After a couple of minutes of comparing projects, Liam and Prof. Gordon continued on their way.

"Dr. Eppes, this was the student I was telling you about. Liam Keller is one of my most promising students. He finished his masters about a year ago and is already well on his way to his Ph.D."

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Eppes," said Liam, extending his hand; Dr. Eppes shook it. Liam was amazed by how young he was. "I've always been interested with the math you've applied to solving crimes with the FBI."

"You've heard about that?"

"Chicago may be a ways away, but the math would is pretty small."

Dr. Eppes smiled. "You can say-" Before he could finish his sentence, an explosion rocked the hall they were in. Prof. Gordon and Dr. Eppes were both knocked off their feet, while Liam barely managed to retain his balance. Looking up, Liam spotted several men entering the hall who were definitely not part of the conference.

_"I have to call Emmy!" _Liam's mind screamed at him. He pulled out his cellphone-ears still ringing-and dialed.

XVIIIIV

"Die you stupid Minotaur!" Emmy shouted at the laptop screen. "Why won't you die?!" She had only been back at the hotel about fifteen minutes, but after pulling down her ridiculous up-do, kicking off her heels, and changing into some jeans and a t-shirt, she was well into a quest in the snowy mountains of Tyria.

Her cellphone, which was sitting next to her computer on the hotel table, started blasting the theme from Zelda, startling her. Emmy snatched up the phone, stuck it between her cheek and shoulder, and answered. "Hello?."

"Amelia, get out of the hotel!"

She furrowed her brows as she sat up straight in her chair. "Liam? What's going on?"

"Get Franklin and get yourself out of there!" In the background, Emmy could hear a lot of yelling.

By this time, Emmy's game was long forgotten as she tried to figure out what was going on. "Liam, what happened?!" She could feel a pit growing in her stomach. Why was he calling her? Shouldn't he be calling Franklin?

Emmy heard Liam let out a huge sigh. "Omega."

Emmy swallowed hard. "But-what-it-"

"Get Franklin and get out! Now!"

With shaking hands, Emmy hung up her cellphone and then quickly closed the laptop without shutting it down. Struggling to keep the panic building inside of her from taking over, Emmy went around the small hotel room, gathering up her things. She threw some clothes into her bag along with her wallet and iPod. She managed to shove her computer into the bag as well and then threw the bag across her shoulder. Grabbing her sneakers from where she'd kicked them off under the table before the conference, Emmy pulled them on. She grabbed a hat, jacket, and cellphone and then reached for her Ripstick. Her brother told her she was ridiculous for going through all the effort of getting it on the plane, but now she was glad she had it. She then ran out the door.

Emmy hurried down the hall to Franklin's room and was about to knock when she heard voices from coming from inside.

_"Where is it?" _demanded a voice Emmy didn't recognize.

_"I don't know what you're talking about."_ The rough, tired voice belonged to Franklin.

Pushing on the door slightly, Emmy was surprised to find it open. Looking through the crack between the door and frame, Emmy saw Franklin-looking much worse for the wear-sitting in a chair in front of two rather intimidating looking men.

"Last chance," said the man on the left. "Tell us where it is, or you die."

Franklin smiled as he hung his head. "Even if I did know what you are after, you'd kill me anyway." He took in a haggard breath and looked back up. "Go to Hell."

"I'll see you there."

Emmy's eyes went wide as the man raised a gun and aimed at Franklin's head. With her heart feeling like it was going to burst from her chest, Emmy took off running down the hall; she suddenly felt like she had the weight of the world on a single shoulder.

XVIIIIV

Don hurried through the crowds, trying to find Charlie. When the FBI got the call about the explosion at CalSci, his thoughts had immediately gone to Charlie, knowing his brother was at the school that night for some sort of conference. Judging from the way everyone was dressed up, tonight must have been a more formal part of it. Spotting Charlie talking with a few other people, Don let out a sigh of relief and made his way over to his brother.

"Charlie, are you okay?" Don grabbed hold of his brother's shoulder and scanned him for injuries.

"Yeah, Don. I'm okay. My ears are ringing a little, but I'm fine. It doesn't seem as though anyone was hurt." Charlie scoffed. "Now, I'm really glad that Amita and Larry couldn't make it tonight."

"What happened?"

"I'm not really sure. I was talking to a post-grad that a colleague of mine introduced me to, and all of a sudden, there was this huge explosion. My colleague and I were knocked down, but the student managed to stay on his feet. Then, all Hell broke loose."

"We've already got people investigating the explosion, and we're going to try and question those people who were closest to where it went off." Don thought for a moment. "Charlie, do you know who prepared the hall for tonight?"

Charlie though but then shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't. I could find out for you though."

"Are you Special Agent Don Eppes?"

Don and Charlie both looked over to see two men in suits walking towards them. Don immediately got a bad feeling. One was a rather short man with thinning brown hair and glasses who Don honestly would never have noticed if he hadn't spoke. The other man-or giant, depending on your point of view-stood well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a hard face.

"Can I help you?" asked Don curtly.

"Yes, you can. I'm Agent Bach," said the smaller of the two, "and this is my partner Agent Banks. We're from the NSA." Both men flashed their badges. "We were told you the lead agent here?"

"Yes." He studied the two men carefully. "What can I do for you?"

Agent Bach gave Don a smug smile. "We don't want to be stepping on each other toes, but several of our consultants were here this evening, and it is very important that we locate them immediately and be on our way.

Don raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? No one is going anywhere until they have been questioned. I don't care if they work for you are not."

"I don't think you understand that importance-"

"I understand that I have a possible terroist attack, and if it is possible that these people have information, then they are not leaving here until they have been questioned." He paused for a moment and squared his shoulders back to indicate he meant business. "Get off my crime scene."

Both agents glared at him, but only Agent Bach spoke. "This is not wise, Agent Eppes." Agent Banks was giving him a hard glare; apparently, he was only there for intimidation. "I will only give you one chance to change your mind."

"That's not gonna happen."

Agent Bach glared at him, but apparently knowing he lacked the authority he needed shook his head. "You will be seeing us again soon, Agent Eppes." He and Agent Banks walked away.

"Something tells me that is not going to end well," said Charlie, from where he stood behind Don.

Don laughed slightly. "I think I could take Bach, but Agent Banks may be a little tougher." He shook his head, now ready to be a bit more serious. "Where are the two people you were talking to right before the explosion? The colleague and the student?"

Charlie shrugged. "I don't really know what happened to the grad student; he was gone before the colleague and I had even gotten back to our feet. My colleague left after saying he needed to make sure the rest of his group was okay. Apparently, he was here with a group from his school who had all been working on some project."

"You have any idea who the NSA would have been looking for?"

Charlie shrugged. "A lot of mathematicians end up doing government work in some capacity. It could honestly be anyone." He let out a shaky sigh and looked around at the damage. Despite his best efforts to hide it, Don could see how shaken up his brother was. Of course, even when working with the FBI, Charlie was typically this close to the incidents.

"What do you think Dad is gonna say?" Charlie asked after a minute or two of silence.

Don was brought out of his thoughts. "Huh?"

"What do you think Dad is gonna say? He's bound to have seen this on the news by now." Charlie groaned. "I'm probably gonna spend all night convincing him I'm okay."

"Maybe he went to bed early," suggested Don with a shrug. "Like at seven."

Charlie shook his head, not impressed by his brother's ridiculous optimism. "That is statistically unlikely."

XVIIIIV

There was something wrong. Their "interrogation" of the NSA agent/code maker had not gone as planned; the man had adamantly refused to say anything, preferring death to being a traitor. They had given the man his preference. But something about the agent didn't seem right. Unlike other agents they had encountered in the past, Franklin had been well-trained in self-defense-putting up a fight when he was attacked-and had held up against their interrogation methods. This was not a typical agent, and it was somewhat unsettling.

Now, back at "headquarters" they were investigating what exactly was wrong. Why would a single member of the group-especially the one who seemed most proficient in self-defense-have gone back to the hotel by himself, abandoning the other four members of the group? That was just asking for trouble. After deciding to take a second more in-depth look at the group's travel plans, they had discovered a sixth traveler who they hadn't known about before listed only as E. Keller. The leader decided it was time for a chat with their mole.

"Who is A. Keller?" the leader demanded immediately after the mole had answered their phone.

"Amelia Keller. Liam Keller's younger sister. She was a change in the plan that was not intended. You need her."

"Why? What is so important about her?"

"Without her, no one can read the code."

"Can you be a little more specific?"

"Not on this phone. It may be a prepaid, but I am not taking chances."

"You said you would get us a copy."

"And I will, but I personally don't have one."

"Wait! You mean you don't have a hard copy of the code?"

"Franklin deemed it too dangerous to travel with a copy. We found...alternative means."

"Do you remember the code?"

The source scoffed. "Do you understand how complex this information is?! You're lucky I remember how to decipher it because we weren't allowed to write that down either."

"So what do we need this Amelia for?"

"The code is on her...literally." There was a knock in the background. "I have to go." The source hung up the phone, leaving the leader very unhappy.

"We need to find out more about this Amelia Keller; she has the code." He looked at the files in front of him. "Let's start with her brother: Liam Keller."

XVIIIIV

The warm wind blew Emmy's short hair into her face, and she pushed it back behind her ears with shaky hands. She was getting as much money as she could from her savings and checking accounts at an ATM; after this, she couldn't used her card or else she would put herself at risk of being found.

Emmy was not looking forward to spending the next several days on her own in LA. She would have done anything to be back in Chicago where at least she had a bed and an EL pass. At this moment in time, she was actually beginning to miss her cramped dorm room and the crazy people who took the red line. She would have given anything to only have to be dealing with the man who tried to sell umbrellas to people who already had them on the El whenever it rained in Chicago.

XVIIIIV

Liam was panicking; He didn't even like it when Emmy took the EL around Chicago with her friends, and now, his little sister was somewhere in LA by _herself_. Liam groaned. This was not good! He'd called Omega thinking that Franklin would keep his sister safe, but Franklin was dead. D-E-A-D...dead. Franklin was dead-shot in his own hotel room-and now Emmy was on her own in LA. The whole basis for Omega was that Franklin would be with Emmy as he had self-defense training, but Emmy was on her own, and the entire operation was in danger.

Liam threw his bag over his shoulder, grabbed the hotel key off the dresser, and made his way to the hotel room door. About twenty minutes ago, he'd gotten a call from Agent Bach informing Liam that he and his colleagues were to remain in their rooms until the agents came to collect them. This gave Liam very little time to get out before they arrived. Sliding the room key into his pocket, Liam opened the door and stepped out into the hall. He made his way down the hall and around the corner, intending to take the elevator when it suddenly dinged. The doors began to slide open, and Liam could just make out a group of three men in suits before he hurriedly ducked back behind the corner.

Struggling to get control over his breathing, Liam struggled to come up with a new plan of action as he ran in the opposite direction. He needed a new plan of escape, and he needed it fast because any second, the three agents would be coming around the corner. Some deity must have been smiling on his that day because a plan of escape came to him in the form of the emergency exit. Liam knew the agents would first collect his colleagues before they would go and see what had caused the alarm, and he hoped that would give him just enough time to escape.

The alarm began blaring the moment Liam pressed the release bar on the door, and he went sprinting down the stairs, hoping that he would be able to save his little sister.

XVIIIIV

CalSci was still functioning despite the explosion from the night before, and after a long day of classes, Charlie was gathering his things to head home. All he had to do before he left was stop by Amita's office to iron out their dinner plans for the next night. Charlie was about ready to grab his laptop bag and head out when there was a quiet knock on the door. With a sigh, Charlie set down the notebook he'd just grabbed.

"Come on in."

There was a brief pause, but then the door to his office opened. Charlie recognized the young man who entered as the post-grad student he had been introduced to the night before.

"Dr. Eppes?"

"Yes," said Charlie. "You're...Liam Keller?"

The young man nodded. "Yes."

"What can I do for you, Mr. Keller?"

"You can...you can just call me Liam."

"Okay. What can I do for you, Liam?"

"I need your help."

Charlie sighed but did his best not to sound exasperated. "I'm sorry, but I'm in a bit of a hurry right now. Is there anyway we could discuss this tomorrow?" He began gathering his things together again.

"It might be too late by tomorrow."

Charlie stopped and looked up to stare at Liam, now very intrigued. "What is going on?"

"I think I might know something about the explosion that happened last night."

Charlie stared at him suspiciously. "Like what?"

"Like who they were after?"

Charlie creased his eyebrows in confusion. "Who were they after?"

Liam sighed. "My colleagues and I."

"Why?"

"It is a very long story."

Charlie looked at his watch; Amita was probably going to be very angry at him, but this seemed _very_ important. "I've got time."

Liam sighed. "It all started about three months ago. Prof. Gordon asked me along with an assistant professor from one of his Ph. D. classes to help him with a project. Another professor at the school was also involved. We worked on the project for about three weeks before I made a major mistake."

"What was that?" asked Charlie when Liam didn't continue.

"I got my younger sister involved. She also goes to the Illinois Institute of Technology. She majors in math, but all she wanted to do was make computer games." Liam rubbed his temples. "I was just trying to show her that there was more to math than just her games...stuff that could help people. My sister is amazing with patterns, and she helped with the project to condense some of the information. Had I known then what I know now, not only would I never have allowed Emmy to give input, but I would never have told her about the project."

"What was the project for?"

"I don't even know for sure. It has a lot to do with condensing complex codes and other information into waves in order to send it via sound rather than through a computer. Beyond all that, I can't tell you much. We were only told what we needed to do by Prof. Gordon, but we never actually knew what were doing it for. One day, Prof. Gordon came in with a man named Lucas Franklin. Prof. Gordon nearly had a meltdown when he saw my sister had been helping with the project. You see, what we were never told was that the project were developing was for the NSA." Liam sighed. "Now my sister was completely involved with the rest of us."

Liam took a deep breath before continuing. "Once the project was complete, there came the task of delivering it. Franklin was not only a code-breaker, but he was also an NSA agent with a lot of self-defense training from when he was in the Marines. Franklin was supposed to protect us while we traveled to LA to deliver the code. We couldn't carry a hard copy of the project; it was too risky. It took us forever, but someone finally came up with a different method."

Liam didn't continue, and Charlie finally had to prompt him. "What was it?"

"A tattoo...on the least suspicious group member: my sister Amelia. On her back is a tattoo with all the information buried in it. Only the members of the group know how to decode it."

Charlie found all this information very intriguing, but he wasn't sure why Liam had come to him. It was obvious there was very little he would be able to do without the code. "What do you need my help for?"

"Last night, after the explosion, I called one of our escape plans in case something went wrong. Emmy was supposed to go with Franklin, and they were supposed to remain in hiding for five days with absolutely no contact with any other members of the group."

"So what is the problem?"

"Franklin was killed last night; Emmy left without him."

"I hate to sound pessimistic, but how do you know she got away?"

"Because no one outside our group knew about Emmy; she took her things and escaped."

Charlie shook his head. "What do you need my help with?"

"I have to find Emmy. I have to find her before someone else does. I need to get my little sister back safe and sound. These people who are after this code, they're dangerous. And the bad thing is, I don't even know who they are."

"How can I help you?"

"I know you work with the FBI, and I also know that you work with the NSA." Charlie's eyes went wide. "I had temporary clearance with the NSA; I used it to my advantage."

Charlie shook his head and sat down in his desk chair. "I just...I just don't know how I can help you."

"Take me to the FBI; you have pull with them. If you have a brother or sister, you must know how I feel right now."

Liam's words hit home, and Charlie nodded. "Okay. My brother works at the FBI; I'm sure together we'll be able to figure out something."

Liam breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you, Dr. Eppes. Thank you so much."

Charlie grabbed his laptop bag and notebook and gestured for Liam to follow him as he walked out of his office. Once he got Liam to the FBI offices, he, Liam and Don could probably figure out what was the best plan of action.

"What is the information you guys developed for?" asked Charlie as they headed to his car.

Liam shook his head as he adjusted the strap of his bag nervously. "I don't know exactly. We knew that we had to get the information to take up as little space as possible in order for it to be transmitted through waves, but other than that, we were kept in the dark a lot. Prof. Gordon often ran his projects that way; he was afraid of someone else taking credit after a friend of his stole one of his thesises."

"I'm not sure how much help I can give you if I don't even know what the project you were working was about," said Charlie, unlocking the car doors so he and Liam could get in.

"You don't need to know what it was about to find Emmy. She was just supposed to go somewhere with Franklin. Now she is trying to stay off the map on her own, and I need someone's help to find her. Someone who is good at predicting people's patterns." Charlie stared at Liam. "I know a lot about you. You're my sister's idol. Last Thanksgiving all I got to hear about was your work. Granted it was interesting but not for three hours. I swear IIT created a math monster when they admitted her."

Charlie nodded as he started his car and pulled out of the parking lot. "You and your sister both study math."

"It's about the only thing we have in common," Liam muttered in reply.

Charlie decided it would be best if he didn't respond to that.

XVIIIIV

Don was looking over a case report when a shadow fell over his desk. He looked up to see Colby holding two cups of coffee.

"What are you working on?" asked Colby, setting one cup in front of Don and taking a drink of the other.

"I'm just looking over the information we gathered from CalSci last night."

"You ever find out who the NSA agents were after?"

Don shook his head. "Everyone we spoke to last night checked out, and none of them seemed to know why the NSA would want with them." Don paused for a second. "However, I'm not sure how many people would admit to an agent during an investigation that the NSA had an interest in them." Don paused again and went to take a sip of coffee but then stopped. "How did you know about that?"

Colby laughed. "The entire office knows about it. You kicked two NSA agents off a crime scene, and they practically threw a tantrum when they left. No one likes those guys." Colby was about to walk away when he suddenly raised his hand to smack his forehead lightly with his palm. "I nearly forgot. David said that Charlie is looking for you along with some young guy."

"Why didn't he check my desk?" Colby shrugged. "Where is he?"

Colby pointed in Charlie's general direction, and Don stood from his desk to go his brother. After a few minutes of searching, he found the professor outside the war room with-as Colby said-a young guy in tow although, to Don, kid would have been a better term.

"Hey, Charlie, what's going on?"

Charlie turned around and hurried over to his brother. "Don, this is Liam Keller. Liam, this is my brother Don Eppes; he's an agent." Don reached out to shake Liam's hand, and the younger man shook it nervously. "He has some...information about the bomb last night."

Don couldn't help but notice how agitated the younger man seemed. "Well, that's great because right now we don't have a lot to go on."

Noticing Liam's discomfort, Charlie pushed open the door of the war room. "Can we talk in here?"

Don nodded and followed his brother and Liam into the room. "Isn't it a little late to be stopping by here?"

"I...um...you see that's my fault. I had...I had to make sure I wasn't being followed." Liam ran a hand nervously through his hair, feeling the eyes of both brothers on him.

Don's eyes narrowed slightly. "By who?"

"Technically, my employers, I guess.

"We're okay. I can't say the same for my car, but I was still able to drive it here." Don could tell that even though his brother was making jokes the entire thing had him freaked out; his hands were shaking slightly. Charlie swallowed hard. "I think it would be best to start from the beginning. Liam, can you tell my brother what you told me?"

Liam nodded and took a deep breath. It took nearly ten minutes, but Liam explained the entire situation to Don even adding some parts that he had neglected to tell Charlie. When he finished, Liam let out a large sigh and shook his head.

"I didn't know when I invited my sister to come learn about the project that all of this was going to happen," said Liam as he collapsed into a chair. "I was just so happy to see her using her skills to do something other than make minotaurs more human like...or whatever it is she is always going on about. By the time I find out what was really going on, not only did Emmy know about the project, but she had contributed."

"Why didn't you refuse to let your sister get the damn tattoo if you were so worried about her?" demanded Don; it was obvious that he was angry. The thought of another sibling purposely putting another sibling in danger made him fume; perhaps it it a little too close to how he felt about letting Charlie work with the FBI.

"It was a catch-22. My sister was already involved." Tears started to form in Liam's eyes. "If I said no, not only would it anger the man who's my mentor, but I make my sister think I didn't think she can do it even after all that time I spent trying to convince to work on stuff like." Liam sighed. "If I said yes, I willingly putting my sister's life in danger." His shoulders slumped in defeat as if reliving the impossible dilemma. "I just didn't say anything, and I think Emmy felt forced to agree."

Don suddenly felt bad for the young man, and he couldn't help but wonder if Charlie ever felt forced into helping him at the FBI. "Why don't you just go to the NSA?"

"Franklin-the man who was supposed to keep Emmy safe-is dead, and I don't really trust any of the other agents I've met. The NSA won't find Emmy; the NSA will find the code. They can read her tattoo whether she is dead or alive. I want someone to find _Emmy_."

Don nodded. While the young man's view of the NSA may not have been entirely correct, Don couldn't help but agree with Liam in that the NSA would be more concerned with getting the information back than actually finding the young girl.

"Okay," said Don. "We'll try and find your sister." He began to pace the war room. "You said your sister isn't supposed to contact you for five days?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have any idea where she would have gone?"

"No. Emmy's never even been here. All she knows is Chicago and our hometown."

Don nodded and then turned his head as something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. The elevator at the far end of the office had opened revealing the two NSA agents from the night before.

"Damn it!" Don nearly shouted.

Both Charlie and Liam looked over and spotted the two men. "What are they doing here?" said Charlie, instantly recognizing the men.

"I can't go with them!"

"How do you know they're after you?" asked Don.

"Because they came to the hotel my colleagues and I were staying at. Luckily, they called us all before they arrived to tell us to stay put, but I managed to duck out before they got there. I almost jumped off my balcony." Liam began pacing back and forth frantically. "I _can't_ go with them! There is no way that I will be able to find Emmy if I am with them." He looked toward Don as if pleading for a solution.

Don felt for the young man, but unlike the night before, he didn't really have any authority in this situation. Liam as their consultant, and it was very likely that he and the project were in danger. The NSA had every right to collect him; Liam was trapped in the middle of a very difficult situation.

"Look," said Don, trying to calm the already agitated young man. "You are currently their consultant, and they have every right to take you with them. I'm not sure there is anything I can do to keep you here short of listing you as a suspect or...or you assaulting an agent." Don wasn't certain he had even gotten to the end of the sentence before a fist connected with his jaw and caused his to stumble back a few steps.

"Don, are you okay?" shouted Charlie as he hurried over to his brother. The elder Eppes was rubbing his jaw, but other than that, he seemed okay.

"Does that count?" asked Liam. He seemed shaky, but strangely more calm for a person who had just technically committed a crime. The young man was determined _not_ to go with the NSA agents making their way to the war room.

The door to the war room, and Don heard the first of the two agents speak. "Agent Eppes," said Agent Bach, "are you okay?" He sounded concerned, but Don was able to detect the smugness hidden in his tone. Without even waiting for an answer, Agent Bach turned toward Liam. "Mr. Keller, we missed you at your hotel, and if I remembered correctly, we asked you to stay put. If you would be kind enough to come with us."

Liam looked between the two agents and the Eppes brothers; there was a look of sheer panic on his face, and his breathing was becoming heavy. Don had a feeling that if he didn't do something quickly, Liam might just try and run.

Still rubbing his jaw, Don cleared his throat and spoke. "He can't. Liam Keller is under arrest...for assaulting an FBI agent."

While the two NSA agents looked as though their heads were going to explode in anger, Liam actually smiled; it was the only time in Don's entire career that he saw someone smile after being placed under arrest.

It was quite easy to miss the subtle movement of Agent Bach clenching his jaw, but to a trained FBI agent like Don, it was as obvious as a neon sign over a rainbow unicorn. "This was not smart, Mr. Keller. It is not just your sister who is in danger." The agent abruptly turned toward Don. "You haven't seen the last of us, Agent Eppes." Without another word, both Bach and Banks turned toward the door to leave. From their posture, it seemed like although they had lost this particular battle, they were still planning on winning the war.

All three men breathed a huge sigh of relief as the war room door clicked softly shut. It was short lived, however, short-lived as Liam started panicking once again; it seemed the gravity of what he had just done had finally hit him.

"Agent Eppes, I am really sorry about punching you, but I couldn't go with them." Liam looked as though he was sincere, and Don had a hard time thinking that he would have done something different had Charlie been in danger. While it certainly hadn't been the hardest punch Don had ever received, Liam did back quite a punch for such a small, unassuming guy.

"It's okay. Don't do it again, but I'll let it slide this time. You're just lucky none of the FBI agents saw or else things would have been a lot more interesting." There was a brief pause in the conversation as Don tried to formulate a plan of action for his new "criminal". Don turned toward Charlie who still seemed a little shocked by the fact Liam had punched his brother. "Charlie, do you have room at your place?"

It took Charlie a second to respond, but he eventually nodded, understanding what his brother was getting at. "I'll have to tell Dad we're having a guest."

Liam looked at Don and Charlie, genuinely confused. "I'm...I'm going to be stay at Dr. Eppes' house?"

Don crossed his arms and gave the young man a smirk. "It's either that, or I can lock you up for punching me."

Liam turned pale and then looked toward Charlie. "Thank you so much for the invite."

XVIIIIV

Across the street from the FBI building stood two rather imposing looking men. They had been sent there in order to gather information regarding Liam Keller and his sister Amelia, but before they got a chance, Liam had gone to the FBI. Neither man wanted to be the one to break the bed news to their employer.

TBC


	2. Chapter II

Title: The Nautilus

Author: Ryo314

Rating: T

Spoilers: Breaking Point

Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs. I wish I did, but alas, I simply own all four seasons on DVD.

Summary: Charlie knew things were going to get interesting the moment he saw a very nervous Liam Keller enter his office.

Note: Well, here is chapter two, and I hope you all are enjoying my story. Please read and review. Chapter 2/4.

**The Nautilus**

Chapter II

"_Initiative is doing the right thing without being told." Victor Hugo_

While at first Alan hadn't been too happy about boarding the young man who'd apparently punched his eldest son, but, after hearing what was going on, he began to sympathize with the young man. It was easy to compare Liam and Emmy to Don and Charlie, especially the part with Emmy willing to do anything to impress her brother; he'd seen it numerous times with Charlie growing up, and even a few occasions when they were adults. The young man's panic was easily understandable as well considering what had happened to his colleague who was supposed to protect his sister. For the moment, all the men could do was try and figure out where to start looking for Emmy, and that was precisely what three of them were trying to do.

"I've already tried calling her," explained Liam with a heavy sigh. He was leaning forward on the couch with his head in his hands. "I knew she wouldn't answer-she specifically was told not to-but I couldn't...I couldn't help but hope."

Alan could certainly understand the young man's frustration, but when he looked up at Charlie and Don, he saw a look on Don's face that usually meant bad news; his suspicions were confirmed with Don spoke.

"Liam, I don't really know a better way to put this, so I'm just going to come right and say it. The FBI can't actually search for Emmy."

Charlie, Alan, and Liam all stared at Don. "But...but you said you would help? I have to find her! In five days, I'm afraid it will be too late."

"I know, but the FBI is already investigating the bombing at CalSci." Don sighed. "My superiors have informed me to focus on the bombing, and allow the NSA to find Emmy."

"I told you!" Liam shouted. "They're connected."

Alan saw Don wince at the shout, but he continued talking in a calm manner. "I know that, and you know that, but at the moment, the NSA doesn't?" Don thought for a moment. "Do they?"

Liam shrugged. "I don't know. Franklin was the only person in the NSA who knew about the tattoo, but with everything that's happened, I have no don't doubt my colleagues told them by now."

"Look, the NSA is watching the FBI closely right now. They want you, but they will also be searching for Emmy. We're going to use that to our advantage."

"How?"

"With the NSA looking for her, we'll have two groups searching."

Charlie finally spoke up. "I thought you said you couldn't search for her?"

"I was told I could not investigate Emmy's disappearance, but considering she-like Liam-may have information on the bombing, I don't see why we shouldn't also be on the lookout for her." Liam looked skeptical. "We'll do all of the work, just none of the documentation."

"Can't you lose your job?" asked Liam. While he sounded sincere in his concern for Don's job, there was also a bit of hope in the young man's voice.

"Yeah?" echoed Alan.

"Only if someone outside my team finds out."

"I really-" Before Liam could finish his sentence, Don's phone had rang. Holding up his index finger as her got off the couch, Don left the room, leaving the other three men in the living room.

"Do you have any idea where your sister might have gone?" asked Alan, joining in the missing girl discussion for the first time.

"Neither one of us have ever been here," replied Liam with a shrug. "I don't know where she would have gone."

"Well, Chicago and LA are both big cities. Where would Emmy have gone if she was back in Chicago?" Charlie looked over at his father. "What? I've raised two kids; they're most likely going to go to places that are similar to what they know." Charlie continued to stare at his father, and Alan felt as though it would be best to explain. "Don "ran away" once when your mother was pregnant with you. Your mother and I searched the whole neighborhood for hours; we even had the neighbors helping. Know where we found him?"

"Where?" asked Charlie.

"He'd taken his backpack all the way to the park and was watching a little league baseball game."

Liam closed his eyes and thought. "She loves tech stuff, computer games, computers in general, but I'm not sure she would go to a Best Buy or anything."

"What else?" asked Charlie.

Liam looked as though he was struggling to remember his sister's likes, and Alan had to wonder if there was some distance between the two siblings. There was no doubt that Liam loved his sister, but whether or not he actually knew her seemed to be up for debate.

Practically leaping from his chair, Liam started talking. "Bookstores! It seems as though where ever we go, Emmy wants to go to a bookstore. Comics, novels, anything." Liam smacked his forehead. "She took her computer. Bookstores that have wifi."

"Do you really think your sister is going to be concerned with her computer when her life is in danger?" asked Charlie.

Liam laughed slightly; it was a rather depressing noise. "You don't know Emmy."

"Did she have any money on her?" asked Alan.

"Not much," replied Liam. "But she had her debit card. She wouldn't continue to use it, but..."

"She might have gotten money from an ATM with it," Charlie said, finishing Liam's sentence. Charlie stood up from the couch and started to pace. As he did, Don returned to the living room.

"That was David," said Don as he put his cellphone back in its holder. "We've got some new information regarding the bomb at CalSci. I've got to go, but I'll be back later."

Alan and Liam both acknowledge him, but Charlie seemed to be too deep in thought to respond. The two other men watched Charlie for several minutes before he said anything.

"Your sister took her computer?"

Liam nodded, obviously confused since they had already established this point. "Yeah."

"She uses wifi." Liam nodded. "Did she use it at the hotel?"

"Every second she could. We weren't paying for it, so she wanted to get the most of it."

"Good," said Charlie. "Based off her computer use at the hotel, we track her use through LA. We'll start by seeing if she used her card and start modeling her movement from there. With any luck, we might be able to figure where she is going to go."

Liam smiled and nodded in understanding. "Perfect. I know she would have used that computer."

"Good. We can get Don to get the records from the hotel, and then we can start tracking your sister's computer use." Charlie smiled. "I've got some friends who can help."

XVIIIIV

"I don't think you're telling us everything," said the man, glaring at the person sitting across from him. "I told you I needed to know everything if this was going to go smoothly." He paused for a moment and then leaned forward to appear more threatening. "You want your money, don't you?"

"Of course I want my money. I'm risking my freedom for it, aren't I?" The person glared back but swallowed hard, betraying how nervous he actually felt.

"What are we missing?" demanded the man angrily. "You never even told us about this Amelia Keller? What is she?"

"I never could get a chance. Since I was in charge of the whole project, that NSA bastard Franklin was keeping a close eye on all my emails and calls." The person sighed. "Amelia _has_ the code."

"I thought you said there were no hard copies of the code?"

"There aren't...perse." The person ran a tired hand down his face. "When we learned that we wouldn't be able to travel with a hard copy of the code and that emails were too risky, we had to come up with alternative means to deliver it. That is where Amelia Keller comes in."

"Who is she?"

"She is the younger sister of one of the mathematicians who worked on the project. She inadvertently became involved when she created a better coding method for some of the information. From that point on, she was a member whether she liked it or not."

"Why was she trusted with the code if she did so little?"

"The code is on her shoulder...in a tattoo. We designed a tattoo which had all the elements of the project hidden in it."

"So we need this Amelia girl?"

"And me. While the code is on her, you have to have one of the other project members decipher the tattoo; that was our fail safe, many ways to read it, but only one copy."

The man nodded, finally understanding all the cryptic messages his informant had been giving him. "Where is she?"

The person turned pale and was obviously reluctant to answer the question. "Well...that's a bit complicated."

The man was angry. "Uncomplicate it. Now."

"I don't know where she is."

The man tilted his head to the side, and the sound of a neck popping echoed quietly through the room. "Why not?"

"Because her moron of a brother called one of the emergency plans Franklin developed after the explosion last night. It's your fault."

The man glared at him obviously not appreciating having the blame thrown on him. "What was the plan?"

"Amelia was supposed to go with Franklin and remain out of contact with the rest of the group for five days." They paused for a moment. "Why did you plant that bomb?"

"For exactly what happened afterward, your group broke up. Do you think this entire plan would have gone off if all the members of your team were all together _all _the time?"

The person shook their head and muttered, "It was a stupid thing to do."

The man ignored him. "So now Franklin is dead?"

The person nodded. "So that means that Amelia is somewhere in LA on her own. Surely you and your associates can find a lone twenty year old girl who has no experience in this city."

The man glared. "I suggest you worry about your own competence and not mine and my men's." He paused and leaned back in his chair. "Tomorrow afternoon, go to the NSA, make up some bullshit explanation for why you were gone. Keep in contact with us though. The moment you hear anything about this Amelia, call us."

"Okay." The person rose to leave, but the man's stern voice stopped him.

"It would not be wise to try and turn against us...especially this late in the game."

The person flashed a nervous smile. "Duly noted."

XVIIIIV

Despite the case at hand, Charlie still had classes to teach, but Liam's, and subsequently Emmy's, predicament was still weighing heavily on his mind. That morning, Liam had returned to the FBI offices with Don to make it appear as though he was in custody; they couldn't afford any reason for the NSA to get their hands on Liam. While there, in addition to following the lead on the bombing they had gotten the night before, Don was going to get a hold of Emmy's wifi usage from the hotel.

There was only one more major obstacle that Charlie was going to have to face that day: Amita. While any other day seeing her would make Charlie the happiest man alive, after blowing her off the night before, his enthusiasm was understandably low.

He was wondering if it would be best to go and talk to her directly or wait a little while; however, he wasn't given a choice in the matter. Not a minute after he had reached his office, Amita had knocked on the door and entered.

"Charlie, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you say yesterday that you would stop by my office before you left to iron dinner plans for last night?"

Charlie could feel his face turning red. "Yes."

"You know, it wasn't even the fact that you didn't show up-even though I waited an extra half hour before I left. Not to bring up the past, but this is not the first time you have forgotten to stop by when you said you would. However, all those other times I could either call you or you would call me. You didn't call, so I tried to call. You never answered." She gave Charlie a smile that dared him to try and talk his way out this. "Care to explain to me why I got to sit up part of the night and worry? No one even answered the phone at your house." Charlie distinctly remembered the phone ringing, but Liam and him had been working, and his father had already gone to bed.

_"This should be interesting,"_ Charlie thought to himself as he pulled a notebook out from under a stack of papers. "Well, there is a very good reason for all of that."

Amita crossed her arms and waited for Charlie to continue. When he didn't respond, Amita raised her eyebrow. "And what is it?"

Charlie took a deep breath. The story had been getting longer and longer since his first conversation with Liam the afternoon before. He was trying to think of the best and fastest way to explain that would give them both time to get to their morning classes.

"It has to do with the explosion that happened during the conference."

"Are you helping the FBI?"

"No." Charlie thought for a minute. "Not exactly. Yesterday, this student I met at the conference stopped by my office right when I was getting ready to leave. He said that he needed my help to find his sister." Amita's arms uncrossed; apparently she was intrigued, and Charlie continued. "To make what has become a very long and complicated story short, he and his sister were both involved in a project for the NSA. Things went wrong, an NSA agent was killed, and now a twenty year old is running around LA with a dangerous code on her shoulder on all by herself."

Amita's jaw dropped. "Um...well...you know, that's something...that's something you just can't make up, especially when stranger things have happened." Amita took a seat in one of the chairs by Charlie's desk. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, that's what Liam-that's the student's name-and I spent most of last night coming up with." Amita gave him a strange look. "He's staying with me because he kind of has to stay in FBI custody."

"Why?"

"The NSA tried to take him, but he refused to go with them. He's scared he won't be able to find his sister if he goes with him." Charlie ran a hand over his face. "He punched Don, so he could be held on assault charges."

Amita's eyes went wide. "Is Don alright?"

Charlie nodded. "Yeah."

"What did you guys come up with?"

"Well, it's something that I could use your and Larry's help on. You see, while Emmy-that's the sister-was at their hotel, Liam said she was always on the computer. The good news is, she took her computer with her when she ran. Through her computer use, we're going to try track her and figure out where she is going to go."

"How? You know you can't predict movement like that."

"Based on what Liam says are his sister's habits. Dad was talking with us and said that a kid will go to places they are most familiar with; Liam says that she loves bookstores, and the good thing is most bookstores have wifi." Amita nodded in understanding. "Don is going to get the records from the hotel, so we can track Emmy's computer."

"We could narrow it down to bookstores in LA with wifi," Amita continued. "If we can model a good pattern for her, we could narrow it down to three or four spots. It wouldn't be that hard to find her if everything goes right."

"There is only one problem."

"What?"

"The FBI can't officially work on finding Emmy."

"Why not?"

"Because Don's superiors want him to focus on the bombing."

"You have to do this on your own?"

"Not entirely. The FBI computers and resources are still available, but no agents other than Don's team can help."

Amita shook her head. "That's not going to make things easy."

Charlie shrugged his shoulders. "Could be worse."

"How?"

Charlie thought for a moment. "I'm not sure at the moment, but I'm sure it could be."

Looking at his watch, Charlie gathered a few more things from his desk and a book off the shelf. "We've got to cut this short, I've got class."

Amita looked at her own watch. "So do I."

"I'll stop by your office before lunch."

Amita gave him a smile. "Are you going to remember this time?"

Charlie rolled his eyes and then kissed her quickly on the cheek before they both left the office.

XVIIIIV

"You know," said David as he and Colby approached small, one-story house in a LA neighborhood known for gang activity, "if I remember this correctly, I believe this is going to be the third time we've tried to get this guy for making bombs."

"Third time?"

"He's very good. This is the first time we've ever had any direct evidence to him."

Colby nodded. "I still can't believe this whole NSA, secret code in a tattoo, missing girl thing."

"Seems like it came from some mystery novel or movie?"

"I still can't believe the guy who punched Don rode with him back to the FBI offices."

"That too."

The two agents walked up to the front door and knocked. They continued talking while waiting for someone to answer.

"Think it has something to do with the fact the guy is looking for his sister?" asked Colby.

David shrugged. "A coupla of years ago, I would have said no, but seeing how close Charlie and Don have gotten, yeah. It probably has something to do with it."

Colby nodded and turned back to the door. "Where is this guy? His car is here." He went to knock again, but David stopped him.

"Hear that?"

Colby listened carefully and heard the faint sounds of a radio coming from the back of the house. The two agents left the front of the house and walked up the driveway to the back. Lounging in a lawn chair next to a radio with a beer in his hand was there suspect.

"Can I help you?" asked the man, lifting his sunglasses and studying David and Colby carefully.

David and Colby both flashed their badges at the man.

"Drew Sherwood?" asked David.

"That would be me." He dropped his sunglasses back into place.

"We're going to need you to come with us."

Sherwood let out an exasperated sigh at David's request. "Can I finish my beer first?"

XVIIIIV

It seemed to Liam that he had been pacing the interview room all day, but given there weren't many other places that he could spend the entire day and that Agent Eppes's team seemed a little leery of him after learning that he'd punched their team leader, there wasn't mush else he could do. Even after Don had explained the entire situation to them, the team had continued to give him weird looks.

A little while earlier, Don had com in with a small stack of papers which not only contained his sister's computer use but also the last use of her debit card. He'd explained that he and his team were going to investigate a lead they'd gotten on the explosion at CalSci, but Dr. Eppes was supposed to come by after his classes were finished for the day with "reinforcements." Liam couldn't help but wonder who these "reinforcements" were going to be.

Liam let out a long sigh and collapsed into a chair, finally taking a break from his pacing. Even with his laptop set up and the beginning of a modeling program started, Liam couldn't keep his mind focused on anything. Every time he tried to work on the model, his mind drifted to his sister and the fact that she was somewhere on her own in LA, and he had no idea where.

_"God! What are Mom and Dad going to say?! If Emmy gets hurt or worse...Mom and Dad will kill me," _Liam groaned and put his head on the table. _"I can't think like this. I'm going to find her! I am! I HAVE TO!"_

Liam's head had only been on the table for a moment or two before he heard the sound of the door to the room opening. Dr. Eppes walked in followed by a pretty Indian woman, and an older man with curly hair. Liam assumed these were the reinforcements, but given his entire situation, he was still a little unsure of them.

"Hey, Liam," said Charlie, setting down a laptop along with a couple of notebooks on the end of the table. "How have things been today?"

Liam let out a sigh and adjusted himself in his chair; he felt his back crack, and he involuntarily winced. "Um...well...they haven't exactly been exciting. You're brother brought me my sister's computer use and her last debit card use. I started work on a modeling program similar to one I did as a project, but there is only so much I can do with this computer, and my temporary NSA clearance doesn't hold much around here. Plus, I don't think your brother's team cares too much for me."

"Why?" asked the man with curly hair.

Liam looked down at his hands. "Probably because I punched Dr. Eppes's brother in the face."

The man's eyes went wide, and he turned toward Charlie. "I'll explain later," said Charlie, waving off his companion's concern. He looked back to Liam. "Let me introduce to Dr. Amita Ramanujan and Dr. Larry Fleinhardt."

Liam stood from the table and extended his hand to both Larry and Amita. "Liam Keller."

"Larry and Amita are going to help with the modeling program." Charlie looked down at Liam's computer. "Do you mind if I take a look at what you've got so far?"

Liam shook his head and turned the computer toward the mathematician. "Not at all, Dr. Eppes."

Charlie winced slightly when he heard Liam call him Dr. Eppes again; he'd been dealing with it mainly because Liam kind of reminded him of one of his students, but it was beginning to get a little old considering he'd been around the young man so much. "You can call me, Charlie."

Liam looked at him and nodded before looking around the room for a second and then awkwardly sitting back down in his chair. After a few minutes of looking at the modeling, Charlie turned back to Liam. "This is..." Charlie shook his head. "This is interesting. How did you develop this?"

"It was the midterm project for one of my graduate classes," replied Liam.

"What was it used for?"

Liam turned bright red. "Believe it or not, we used it to model the behavior of the squirrels around the campus. We...um...we actually were able to track them back to like Squirrel City." Liam looked around at the three people now staring at him. "Um...it's a long story." They continued to stare. "I really don't want to explain."

Charlie shrugged and then turned back to the computer. "Well, if you can explain the coding for this to me, I think we'll be able to work with this."

Liam smiled and nodded. "Of course, Dr.-Charlie."

"Great," Charlie turned toward Amita. "You've really got to take a look at this."

Amita walked over to take a look at the program while Larry and Liam stood off to the side, waiting.

XVIIIIV

Don wanted desperately to punch Drew Sherwood across the face, but he doubted his superiors would view that as standard interrogation procedures. Sherwood was known for making explosives for anyone who could pay him what he asked, but unfortunately, he was also exceptional at covering his tracks, that is until the bomb at CalSci. The bomb matched Sherwood's style down to a 'T', and amongst the debris, the bomb's detonator had been located. On it, had been Sherwood's index fingerprint.

Despite the situation and the evidence, Sherwood didn't seem too concerned, and that was main reason Don wanted to hit him so badly. Luckily, Colby was doing the questioning, meaning Don didn't have access to Sherwood's jaw.

"Look, we have two previous arrests for the exact same charges," said Colby, putting two folders in front of Sherwood.

"And yet I didn't get convicted," retorted Sherwood still as smug as he had been the last time they'd brought him in. "If all you have me on is speculation and previous charges, then you can't hold me for long."

Don clenched his fists, and he could see Colby's jaw tighten. This had been going on for much too long. "Look, Sherwood, I wouldn't pay too much attention to what your delinquent friends say that they learned from their moron lawyers."

Sherwood rolled his eyes. "I'm really getting sick of this agents; I do have other things I could be doing today."

Colby shook his head and turned toward Don; the lead agent nodded just enough for the other agent to notice. With a sigh, Colby pulled put a sheet of paper from one of the folders; it was a photo copy of Sherwood's fingerprints taken the last time he'd been arrested. Sherwood eyed the paper warily but didn't say anything.

"You know, all that talk we've been going through was mainly just to see how cooperative you were going to be. Guess the answer is not that cooperative. The fact of the matter is we have the proof we need to connect you to the bomb at CalSci." Colby smiled smugly. "We know you have always been very careful about your work, and so far, we've never gotten any fingerprints on any of the explosives that you supposedly made. This time, however, you slipped."

Sherwood's eyes went wide. "Wh-what?"

Colby leaned forward on the table, his face only inches from Sherwood's. "You slipped up." He leaned back, and he and Don watched Drew Sherwood squirm in the chair across from him. "Care to tell us who had you make that bomb?"

Sherwood looked in between Don and Colby a couple times; it was obvious he was at a loss for words. Several minutes passed before the man spoke, and it was not what either agent wanted to hear. "I want a lawyer."

Don and Colby both sighed in frustration. "We'll get you your lawyer," said Colby as he and Don left the room.

Don let the door close and rubbed at the back of his neck. This case would have been difficult enough when it had just been a bomb at CalSci, but no. The case had become more and more complicated ever since his first conversation with Agent Bach and Agent Banks; it was like a giant snowball rolling down a hill getting bigger and bigger. They now had an explosion, a guy's sister missing in LA, a dead NSA agent, a mathematician being held on assault charges in order for him to be able to look for his sister, and a missing code that two (three if you included the FBI) groups of people were desperate to locate. Forget snowball, this was a goddamn avalanche.

_"Man, I hope Charlie and those guys are having better luck than I am." _Don couldn't help but let out another sigh as he made his way to the interview room where he'd "stored" Liam Keller for the day. To say he was a little surprised when he walked into the room would have been an understatement. When Don had spoken to them all earlier, the computers had been spread around the table along with the papers he'd brought in on Emmy's computer and debit card use; now, however, there was only one computer in use, but the screen in the room now contained a map of LA with several spots marked on it. Liam and Amita were both hunched over the only open laptop while Larry and Charlie were studying the map and talking intently.

"Even if we can create a model for her movement around the city, how are you going to predict her next move, Charles?" asked Larry, pointing to a few of the spots labeled on the map.

"We may not be able to come up with one precise location, but general areas based on where she's been and where Liam said she may go shouldn't be too hard to formulate."

"She likes bookstores," threw in Liam who'd obviously been listening.

"How are things going on this?" asked Don, walking over to the map.

"Pretty good," replied Charlie. "We used a modeling program that Liam developed for school, and Amita was able to configure it to work especially for this instance. Instead of tracing back, we had it project forward."

"Right now, we're tracking Emmy Keller's computer across LA," added Larry. "We've been able to find it four times, but there are surely more out there."

"How long do you think it is going to take?" asked Don.

"We'll probably be able to have it done tonight," said Amita. "Tomorrow morning by the latest. There haven't been too many places where her computer was found, but there are some places where she was logged on for over an hour."

"She was gaming," Liam threw in.

"Her life is in danger," said Don, "and your sister is gaming?"

Liam sighed and nodded.

"Still," said Charlie, "even with the lack of locations, we're still getting a good pattern."

"That's good," said Don. "We certainly didn't have any luck with our suspect."

"What happened?"

"The second he found out we had physical evidence that linked him to the crime, he asked for a lawyer and shut up."

Charlie nodded. "I can't understand why they even would have planted that bomb. What did it accomplish?"

"Confusion."

Don and Charlie both turned toward Liam. "What?" they said in unison.

Liam looked up from his computer and realized that everyone was staring at him. "Confusion. I've been thinking about it constantly. Maybe they didn't know about Emmy." Liam shrugged. "Maybe they still don't, but it was going to be a hell of a lot easier to get the code if everything was chaotic, and we were split up."

Don thought about it and shook his head. "That would only have caused the NSA to crack down on the whole situation."

"Only if the NSA knew about it. Franklin was the agent specifically dealing with the project, and the plan was kept top secret. The rest of the team was taken in the day after the bomb; Franklin was already dead by then."

Don's eyes went wide as realization dawned on him. "They thought Franklin had the code. They're already planned on having it by now."

"Which is exactly why we need to find Emmy as soon as possible...before it's too late." Don could see in Liam's eyes just how scared the young man was, and Don couldn't blame him.

TBC


	3. Chapter III

Title: The Nautilus

Author: Ryo314

Rating: T

Spoilers: Breaking Point

Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs. I wish I did, but alas, I simply own all four seasons on DVD.

Summary: Charlie knew things were going to get interesting the moment he saw a very nervous Liam Keller enter his office.

Note: I'm glad you are reading the third chapter, and I hope you all enjoy. Chapter 3/4.

**The Nautilus**

Chapter III

"_Persistent people begin their success where others end in failure." Edward Eggleston_

Four sets of eyes were staring at the map of LA on the large screen while a fifth set stared at a laptop screen. All of them were hoping that in just a few seconds they would have an idea of where Amelia Keller would be. The parameters had been set up by where Emmy had been previously and by close bookstores.

With a few more clicks of the keyboard, Liam let out a long sigh and hit the enter key. There was a pause and then a few spots were marked on the map. Amita turned away from the large screen and started working on a laptop that was set up behind her. With just a couple seconds of typing, the three spots marked on the paper suddenly had addresses.

"It looks like there is a possibility that she is at a comic book store called Inked..." Larry gave the name of the shop a strange look. "An Internet cafe or a Barnes and Noble."

"How good of a possibility?" asked Don.

"Well..." started Charlie, "that's kind of complicated."

Larry decided to take over. "I believe what Charlie is trying to say is that even though this model is good and we have a strong pattern, we're still trying to predict a single human being's behavior, and that is always subject to change."

Don looked back to his brother, who had decided it would be best to go over and look at Liam's computer.

"If I know Emmy, she's somewhere surrounded by books," said Liam, looking up from the computer. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure how well I know my sister anymore." He looked back down at the computer; it was obvious that his mood was getting worse the longer Emmy was missing. They caught him several times trying to call Emmy's phone; she'd yet to answer.

"We just need to get to these places around noon; she seems to log on at places like this most in the afternoon," said Charlie.

This was what Don had been dreading. He really didn't want to tell his brother that even though he was an FBI agent, there wasn't much he could do about Emmy. Basically, what Don didn't want to tell his brother was that he was on his own.

Don set his hand on Charlie's shoulder. "Um...Charlie, can I talk to you outside for a moment?"

Charlie stared at his brother. "Um...sure."

The two brothers stepped out of the room and took a few steps down the hall. "Uh...Charlie...I'm not exactly sure how to tell you this, but the FBI can't go find Emmy."

Charlie's brows creased in confusion. "What?"

Don shook his head and sighed. "Since the FBI was never officially looking for Emmy, we can't send agents to those locations, especially if you don't want the NSA to take over before you even find Emmy."

"So what are we going to do?"

"I can go, but I can't necessarily send anyone else."

Charlie shook his head obviously not happy with that option; unfortunately, he didn't have much of a choice. "Alright."

The two were about to join Larry, Amita, and Liam when David hurried up to Don. "Sherwood cracked. He's going to tell us all he knows about who hired him to make that bomb."

"Can't it wait?"

David shook his head. "Sherwood is willing to talk now or not at all."

Don sighed as he looked between Charlie and David. "Sorry, Buddy, but I've got to go take care of this. Look, make sure everything is ironed out, and after we talk with Sherwood, we'll go find Emmy."

Charlie sighed; this was definitely not what he wanted to hear. "Okay."

"Alright. I'll be back soon."

Don walked off with David, and Charlie returned to the workroom. Larry, Amita, and Liam were all staring at him as he entered. Amita was the first to speak. "Well?"

Charlie really didn't want to the bearer of bad news, but at the moment, he had no choice. "Um...well...the FBI can't send agents to look for Emmy."

Liam turned pale. "Why not?"

"Because they never officially took on her case. Don was going to go to the locations, but the guy who built the bomb at CalSci is finally talking."

"So...what's going to happen?" Liam looked incredibly nervous.

"We could wait till Don is finished," replied Charlie.

"What if it's too late by then?" asked Amita.

"Or I could go," continued Charlie.

All three of them stared at Charlie, and for a moment the mathematician wondered if he had grown an extra head. Larry finally broke the silence.

"I'm sorry I can't find a better way to phrase this Charles, but you can't be serious?"

"I am."

Amita jumped in. "Charlie, it's dangerous."

"And if you go, I'm going with you!" added Liam; the danger aspect apparently hadn't occurred to him.

Charlie sighed; he'd been expecting this kind of reaction. "Liam, you can't go. The second you step out of the offices without an agent, the NSA are going to take you into custody."

Liam was not to be deterred. "But she is my sister."

"I know, but you can't-" Before Charlie could finish his sentence, Amita had cut him off.

"I'll go!"

Liam, Larry, and Charlie turned toward Amita. "What?" they all said in unison.

"You're certainly not going to go on your own; it's dangerous, Charlie. Besides, you can't check all three places in time to find Emmy."

"She's right," agreed Larry. He paused for a moment. "So I'll go too."

"You guys-"

"It's simple math, Charles. Three people to check three locations."

"I can't ask you guys to do this," said Charlie.

"You didn't ask," corrected Amita. "Now, if we don't leave soon, we're going to risk missing Emmy."

"What am I supposed to do?" asked Liam.

All three looked toward the young man; they couldn't take Liam with them and risk the NSA taking the young man into custody.

"You're going to have to stay here," said Charlie.

"But-"

"I'm sorry. I really am, but if we find your sister, but the NSA has you, what's gonna happen?"

Liam looked down at him hands. "Okay."

Amita looked back at the map. "I'll take the comic book store. Larry, do you want to check out the Internet cafe?"

"I suppose."

"I guess that leaves me with the Barnes and Noble," said Charlie. He turned toward Liam. "We should be back in a couple of hours at the most. Promise me, you're not going to leave."

Liam shook his head. "I'm not going to leave."

"Good," said Charlie. He turned back to Larry and Amita. "Let's go find Emmy." Something suddenly dawned on Charlie; the only person who had any idea what Emmy looked like was the one person who wasn't going. "Um...Liam?"

"Yeah?"

"What does Emmy look like?"

Liam seemed kind of surprised by the question. "Um...well...she's kind of short...she has short hair. Wait! I have a picture of her." Liam turned back to his laptop and started typing away. Only a few seconds later, Liam apparently had found what he was looking for. "Here's a picture of her."

Amita, Larry, and Charlie stared at Liam's computer after he turned it around; he'd brought up his sister's Facebook page, and on the screen at the moment was a picture of four girls standing in front of the Bean in Chicago. "Emmy is on the right," added Liam.

A short young woman-a little on the chubby side-with bleached out blonde hair and a spray of freckles smiled back at them from the screen. Up until now, Charlie had no face to put with the girl he'd been looking for; all he had been focusing on was setting up the model. Everything seemed different now. Now, Amelia Keller had a face.

XVIIIIV

Amita stood outside of Inked wondering whether or not to go in. If she waited outside, she had a chance to catch Emmy before she entered the shop, but if Emmy was already inside, she was going to have to wait till Emmy came out to catch her. However, if she went in, she ran the risk of Emmy changing her mind of coming to the shop.

Amita considered her options for a couple of moments, all the while watching the people who passed, entered, or exited the shop, and then she decided to enter the shop. Inked wasn't a particularly large shop which made looking for Emmy pretty easy. She walked around for a few moments carefully studying the people in the shop. After a moment, it became obvious that Emmy was not there. Before leaving, Amita decided it would be best to ask the person at the counter if they'd seen Emmy.

She walked up to the counter and waited for the kid that was paying to finish.

"Can I help you?" asked the guy behind the counter after the kid was done.

"Um...yes. I was wondering if you had seen a particular person today?"

"We get quite a few people in here, so I can't say for sure," replied the guy.

Amita gave him an odd look and glanced around the shop; it wasn't exactly what most people would call "busy." Amita turned back to the guy. "Can I just ask? It's very important."

The guy shrugged. "Sure. What did they look like?"

"Well, she's short...umm..." Amita tried to remember the photo. "Kind of chubby. Very short blond hair."

The guy shook his head. "I haven't seen anyone like that. Sorry."

Amita frowned. That wasn't what she wanted to hear. "That's okay. Thanks anyway." She knew she couldn't leave yet and risk missing Emmy. "I think I'll just look around for a little bit." She turned away from the counter and started to "browse" the racks of comic books.

XVIIIIV 

Larry had never quite understood the draw of Internet cafes. Whenever he felt the need to work on something, be it on the computer or not, he never felt like going to a crowded and public place where people were talking all around him. Maybe it was just him, but that did not seem like an ideal working environment.

Larry walked around the cafe once, trying his best not to look suspicious, but he didn't see Emmy anywhere. No one in the cafe seemed to be paying attention to anyone else; even the cashier was hard at work on a computer. She only seemed to pay attention when someone came up to the counter. Larry doubted it would do him much good to ask the young girl at the counter if she'd seen Emmy.

After a moment, Larry decided it would be best to try and wait for either Emmy to show up or for Amita or Charlie to call him with good news of their own. He took a seat at a table facing the door and silently hoped the young woman would show.

XVIIIIV

Charlie couldn't actually remember the last time he'd been to a Barnes and Noble; even with his book release, he spent most his time in smaller book shops. Until he had entered, Charlie had forgotten how big these stores were; it was not going to be easy to find Emmy.

As he walked through the store, Charlie spotted the information desk and thought it would be a good idea to ask one of the workers if they'd seen Emmy. He waited in line for several minutes, all while studying the people who walked past him. When he finally got to the desk, Charlie was faced with a very exasperated Barnes and Noble worker.

"How can I help you?" asked the worker, giving Charlie a tired smile.

"Um...I am looking for a person," replied Charlie.

"Person?" said the worker, obviously confused.

"Yeah. A college-aged girl with short-"

"Sir," said the worker, cutting him off, "I help people find books, not other people."

"This is really important though."

The worker shrugged. "I'm sorry, but we're very busy. If you're not after a book, I can't really help you. Next please."

Charlie sighed in frustration; he was not going to get anywhere talking to the employee, so Charlie decided to start his own search for Emmy. He tried his best to remember what kind of books Liam had told him Emmy liked. After a moment or two of trying to remember, Charlie decided to start in the most obvious section: mathematics.

The single bookshelf that was crammed with books that varied from old mathematical theories to modern approaches was lacking a certain aspect: Emmy. He wondered around the math and science area for a few moments before deciding that Emmy was definitely not there. He racked his brain for another area to search. If he remembered correctly, Liam had said Emmy liked to read comic books and similar things.

Charlie began wondering somewhat aimlessly around the bookstore looking for the comic books when someone in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Quickly turning his head, Charlie spotted what appeared to be a young girl sitting in front of a bookshelf reading. Next to her was a bag and what appeared to a two wheeled skateboard. Charlie hurried toward her, not thinking that probably wasn't the best thing to do to a girl that was on the run.

When he reached the girl, she jumped and turned around to see who was behind her; Charlie instantly recognized her as Emmy, but it was obvious that the young girl did not recognize him. She quickly grabbed her bag and skateboard type thing and got up off the floor. Before Charlie realized it, Emmy had taken off.

"Wait, Emmy!" shouted Charlie, running after the girl. Emmy, however, did not stop, and before Charlie could catch her, she'd ran out of the doors. _"Dammit!" _thought Charlie as he pushed through the store doors.

Emmy was nowhere to be seen in the right direction, but Charlie spotted her riding the skateboard thing. However, Emmy lost her balance and went crashing to the ground. Charlie put on an extra burst of speed and caught up to the young girl lying on the ground. She panicked when she saw him and tried to get back to her feet, but she felt back with a hiss of pain. Charlie noticed that her hands were now badly skinned. His luck would have been better had Emmy not gotten hurt.

"Are you alright?" asked Charlie, kneeling down on the ground. Emmy didn't respond; all she did was stare warily at Charlie. "You're Amelia Keller, right?"

"Maybe," she replied, swallowing convulsively.

"My name is Charlie Eppes. I'm here with the FBI; you're brother, Liam, asked me to help find you."

"Charlie Eppes," said Emmy, giving him a suspicious look. "As in Dr. Charles Eppes?"

"Yeah."

Emmy seemed in intrigued if still a little suspicious. "Can I-can I see some proof?"

Charlie nodded and pulled his FBI ID from his pocket. He handed it to Emmy, and after a moment of studying it, she handed the ID back to Charlie.

"You're really Dr. Eppes," said Emmy. "I'm sorry, but what with everything that's happened...I'm sorry, Dr. Eppes."

"You can call me Charlie."

"You said my brother asked you to help find me?"

"Yeah. He did."

"Is Liam okay?"

Charlie nodded. "Good."

"I think it would be best if we got out of the middle of the sidewalk."

Emmy nodded, and Charlie, remembering the condition of her hands, grabbed hold of her arm and helped her to her feet. Emmy grabbed her bag, and Charlie picked up the skateboard thing.

"Um...do you mind if I ask what this is?" asked Charlie, holding up the object.

"It's a Ripstick," replied Emmy. "As you can tell, I'm not very good at it. All lot of students at my school have them, and they're pretty good for getting around. I just got mine." Emmy looked down at her feet, and Charlie could see her face turning red. "Sorry. This isn't exactly how I would have wanted to meet a famous mathematician...by running out of a bookstore."

"What exactly happened that made you run?" asked Charlie.

"Liam didn't tell you?" Emmy suddenly seemed very suspicious.

"He did. He said he called some plan, and that you took off. The guy who was supposed to go with you...was dead. I kind of meant back in the store?"

Emmy nodded in understanding. "My nerves are a little on high. I haven't slept much." She paused for a moment. "Are you sure Liam is okay? He seemed really upset when he called me the other night."

"That's because there had just been a bomb at CalSci."

Emmy's jaw dropped. "What? He...is...is everyone okay?"

"No one was hurt badly." Charlie looked down the street where he had parked his car. "We really need to get back to the FBI offices. You're brother was freaking out that he wasn't allowed to go with us to find you."

"Why wasn't he?"

"He's kind of in FBI custody to keep from going into NSA custody. If he left without an agent, the NSA would grab him."

"What did he do?"

Charlie looked down at his hands. "He may have punched my brother."

"What?!"

"It's a long story. He can tell it to you once we get back." Realization dawned on Charlie. "I need to call Amita and Larry. They're the other two people looking for you."

As Charlie got out his phone to make the calls, Emmy tilted her head to get a better look at something behind Charlie. He brought the phone to his ear, but Emmy grabbed hold of his forearm tightly.

"Where is your car?"

Charlie stared at Emmy. "It's down the road. I couldn't get a closer parking spot."

"We need to get there."

"Why?"

Emmy pointed behind Charlie, and he looked to see two very angry looking men walking towards them. Charlie turned back to Emmy.

"Walk slowly, but quickly in the other direction, okay?"

Emmy nodded, and she and Charlie began walking in the opposite direction. About every ten seconds, Charlie looked over his shoulder at the two men. On the third look, Charlie noticed that the two men were now running.

"Run!" shouted Charlie, grabbing hold of Emmy's arm. Even at the pace they were sprinting, Charlie swore he could hear the sound of the two men's footsteps. It was then that Charlie made the fatal error; he turned the corner, thinking that it was a threw street. Instead, Charlie and Emmy came face to face with a dead end. Before Charlie could get them turned around and out of the alley, the two men had caught up to them.

"Well...well...well...you are a hard person to find, Amelia Keller." The man who had spoken turned to Charlie. "Unfortunately, I have no idea who you are. Which is not a good thing for you."

Emmy was standing in a petrified silence, and Charlie stepped in front of her. "You're not taking her anywhere."

"My associate and I beg to differ." Both men took a step toward Charlie and Emmy. Suddenly remembering the heavy Ripstick in his hand, Charlie waited until the men got a little closer and then swung the heavy Ripstick. His first swing struck the first man across the face knocking him to the ground. The second swing hit the second man in the shoulder. While the man was leaning heavily against the wall, Charlie grabbed hold of Emmy's arm, and they both ran out of the alley.

"Come on!" shouted Charlie, pulling the frightened Emmy along toward the car.

XVIIIIV

"Drew," said Don, trying to sound calm and friendly, "are you sure there isn't anything else you can tell use about the guy who paid you to make that bomb?"

Sherwood shook his head. "The guy came into my garage and asked me if I needed any customers for my "alternative" business. I asked him a few questions to make sure he was a cop, and then I asked him what he needed. The guy told me he needed a bomb that would cause a lot of superficial damage but wouldn't actually kill or hurt anyone too badly."

"Then what happened?"

"I asked him what place he needed it for," replied Sherwood, like it was obvious.

"Why?"

"Different types of buildings require different types of explosives, especially if want a specific type of damage done. The guy told me it was for a ballroom type room at CalSci. Afterward, he told me that he needed it done in a week."

"Then what did you do?"

Sherwood leaned forward and glared at Don. "I built it. A week after our first meeting, the guy came back. He picked up the bomb and paid me."

"What did the guy look like?"

"He wore a hat and sunglasses at both meetings."

"Do you want the deal, Drew?" asked Don angrily.

"He was about six feet tall, and he had dark hair. Dark brown, maybe black. He was white, and he had plain accent."

"See, I knew you paid closer attention to your clients. What name did he give you?"

Sherwood leaned back and crossed his arm. "You don't want to know."

"I think I do," countered Don.

"Gregory House."

Don sighed. "And what did Dr. House pay you?"

"100,000 dollars," replied Sherwood.

"That's a lot of money."

"Which is one of the reasons I did it. With that kind of money, I wouldn't have to do much building for quite awhile."

"I've got one last question for you."

"What is it?"

"What kind of detonation did you make for that bomb?"

"The guy told me that someone was going to be in the room to do the detonation. They had to be within fifty feet of the bomb for the remote to work. Those are the cheaper bombs to make."

Don rolled his eyes. "Anything else you want to add?"

"No, Agent Eppes. I've got nothing else to add."

Don shook his head and stood up from the table. He left the interview room without saying another word to Sherwood and headed back down to the room where Charlie and the others had set up. He felt bad that the several interviews and bartering matches for a decent deal for Sherwood had taken so long, and he was hoping that the amount of time he'd taken to talk to Sherwood hadn't cost them their chance of finding Emmy.

Don entered the room but was somewhat surprised when he saw that Charlie was missing from the group. "Hey." He looked around for a second. "Where's Charlie?"

XVIIIIV

Larry and Amita were back at the FBI waiting with Liam for Charlie to return with Emmy. Charlie had called him both of them on his drive back to the offices. Liam was particularly anxious; he wanted to make sure his sister was okay.

"She's alright," Liam repeated over and over to himself. "She's alright."

"He said that she was in the..." Larry paused. "Manga section."

Liam nodded. "No surprise there. She has shelf at home completely full of of these Anime books. I don't know what she'll do when she finally moves out."

Just as Liam finished his sentence, the door the to the room opened. All three turned to face expecting see Charlie returning with Emmy; they were surprised to see Don.

"Hey." He glanced around. "Where's Charlie?"

Liam, Amita, and Larry all looked at each other. In all their planning for going to search for Emmy, they never once came up with a plan for what they would do if Don came back. Suddenly, that scenario was staring them right in the face.

"Well," said Amita, "he is..." She tried to come up with something reasonable; her mind failed her. "He is in the bathroom."

Larry and Liam both stared at Amita. "Yeah," said Liam. "He said he would be right back though."

"Well, good. I know I took a bit longer with Sherwood than I expected, but hopefully we can still catch Emmy." Amita involuntarily winced, and Larry and Liam remained silent. "Um...is there something going on that I should know about?" No one replied. "Where's Charlie?"

"In all honesty, Charlie is returning from the same place where Amita and I were not too long ago," explained Larry, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Um...Larry, no offense, but you're not making any sense."

Amita joined the conversation. "Charlie isn't in the bathroom."

"I gathered that," said Don. "Where is here?"

"Not here," Amita replied with a shrug. Don crossed his arms. "Charlie, Larry, and I went to look for Emmy at the places out model gave us."

Don blinked several times as if not believing what Amita had just told him. "What?! You guys went?!" Larry and Amita both nodded. "Without agents?" Another nod. "Do you realize how dangerous that is?!"

Amita and Larry didn't respond, so Liam took over. "Charlie found her."

Don turned toward Liam. "What?"

"He found her. They're on their way here." Liam looked down at his hands. "He said-he said she's okay, but I don't know...cause I didn't get to go." The last part came out a little bitterly.

Don opened his mouth to continue speaking but stopped when he heard the door opening. All four people turned to face the doors.

"I found her," said Charlie with a smile as he and a young girl entered the room. His face fell when he saw a very angry Don staring at him.

TBC


	4. Chapter IV

Title: The Nautilus

Author: Ryo314

Rating: T

Spoilers: Breaking Point

Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs. I wish I did, but alas, I simply own all four seasons on DVD.

Summary: Charlie knew things were going to get interesting the moment he saw a very nervous Liam Keller enter his office.

Note: I hope you all enjoyed my story; I know it was short, but I certainly enjoyed writing it. Please read and review. Chapter 4/4.

**The Nautilus**

Chapter IV

"_And what do _you _want, Caboose?"_

"_I want a pony." Andy and Caboose "Red v Blue"_

"Emmy!" shouted Liam, hurrying over to his sister and pulling her into a tight hug. "God! I've been so damn worried!"

"Careful!" shouted Emmy as Liam's grip became tighter and her skinned hands came into contact with his back. Suddenly very concerned, let go and took a step back to check over his sister.

"Are you okay?" asked Liam, setting his hands on his sister's shoulders and inspecting her face carefully.

"I'm fine," replied Emmy before holding up her hands for her brother to see. "My hands are a little worse for the wear. I fell off my Ripstick."

Liam carefully inspected Emmy's hands before shaking his head and laughing; it was more of a laugh of relief than having actually found anything funny. "I told you that stupid thing was bad news," muttered Liam as he pulled his sister back into a hug.

"Can you save the 'I told you so's' for just a little bit longer?" Emmy sounded slightly put off, but the arms that wrapped around her brother's back and the small smile on her face said otherwise.

"I'm sorry, Emmy. I am so sorry I got you involved in all this."

As the brother and sister's reunion continued, Don turned to his own brother with a raised eyebrow. "You went to find her on your _own_?"

Charlie smiled sheepishly. "If we waited for you, we ran the risk of missing her."

"If you went on your own, you run the risk of something bad happening!" Don was fuming, but even in his anger, he didn't miss his brother's sudden interest in his shoes. With a sigh, Don grabbed hold of his brother's arm and pulled him out into the hall. "What happened?" demanded Don once the door had clicked shut, and they were out of hearing range.

Charlie tried to avoid his brother's eyes. "We may have been found by the guys who were after the code" He paused. "And it was not the NSA guys."

Don's stomach dropped, and he quickly reached out to set his hands on Charlie's shoulder beginning his own big brother inspection to make sure his sibling was okay. "Are you okay? Did anything happen?"

"We're fine; the skateboard that Emmy uses is a little worse for the wear, but _we're_ fine."

Don-while still very angry and worried- was now also a little intrigued. "What did you do?"

"I-I may have hit them with it."

"Did they have guns?!"

"If they did, they weren't out." Charlie looked down at his feet and then back up at his brother.

Don was at a loss for words. On one hand, his brother had not only created a model that accurately predicted where Amelia Keller would be, he'd also found her and saved her life and his own. On the other hand, he'd done something completely dangerous and stupid. His loss for words continued, and finally, Don broke out into laughter. After a moment, Charlie joined in, and the two brothers stood in the hall laughing for several minutes. It finally died out, and Don was able to speak again.

"I am only going to say this about this incident once because I really don't want to encourage to do stupid and dangerous things like that ever again." Don took a deep breath. "I'm proud of you, really." Charlie gave his brother a smile. "Don't ever do it again." Don paused for a moment. "Ever."

Charlie laughed and shook his head. "Thanks, and I won't."

Don set his hand on Charlie's shoulder. "Let's get back in there."

When they returned to room, Liam's arm was around Emmy's shoulder, and the young girl was doing her best to explain what had happened in the three days since the explosion. All the while, Larry was carefully looking at her hands.

"I just basically kept moving, and when I got tired, I would stop somewhere and used my computer. I was checking my mail...Facebook...trying to keep myself busy."

"Gaming," added Liam.

Emmy turned red. "Gaming. Dr. Eppes scared the Hell out of me. I thought he was one of the guys after me, and then when those goons showed up-"

"What?!" shouted Liam and Amita in unison.

Charlie decided it would be best to try and change the subject. It would be easier to explain things to Amita when there wasn't the risk of an angry brother during the story; this time, it wouldn't be Don.

"Um...Emmy, do you mind if I see this coded tattoo?" asked Charlie.

Emmy shook her head. "No problem." She took off the jacket she was wearing and pulled over the strap of her tank top and bra to reveal the tattoo that two groups of people wanted to see so badly. Charlie, however, laughed when he saw it; there was no doubt that the people who designed this project were math people. The tattoo was of an intricate nautilus; one of the best examples of the golden ratio. He squinted his eyes at at complex patterns on the shell and noticed that when a person looked just right, they turned to numbers and symbols.

"That is pretty impressive," said Charlie. He turned to Liam. "How do you decipher it?"

Liam smiled and shrugged. "If I told you, the NSA would have to kill you." Charlie laughed at the joke. "It's overly complicated and takes a few hours."

"It's going to be so much fun for me," muttered Emmy, pulling her jacket back on. "I just don't know when the deciphering will take place."

"Very soon," said an authoritative voice from the doorway. Everyone turned toward the door and saw both Agent Bach and Agent Banks. "Agent Eppes, this game we played was very entertaining, but it is time we do _our _job." Agent Bach turned toward Amita and Larry. "I'm sorry, but the next part of this conversation doesn't concern you two. Please leave."

Don wanted to disagree with the smug agent; well, actually, Don wanted to punch the smug agent across the face. However, if anything was going to get sorted out, the FBI and the NSA needed to talk face to face; that wouldn't happen in front of Larry and Amita.

"I'm sorry guys," said Don, "but this is important." Larry and Amita both nodded and left the room without argument.

"This whole thing will go a hell of a lot faster if the two Kellers just come with us." Agent Bach looked at the brother and sister. "Come on."

Emmy and Liam didn't move. Instead, they both looked over to Don. Don moved in front of Liam and Emmy just as Agent Banks took a step toward the duo.

"It's not quite that simple. Liam is still in FBI custody for assaulting an agent, and Emmy-who came here of her own free will-can help us with our bombing case, which you have no authority over. Now, as far as I see, the FBI not only has the copy of the code you have been so desperately looking for, but someone who can read it. We seem to be one step ahead of you in your own case."

"This isn't wise, Agent Eppes." Agent Bach clenched his teeth.

"Liam, apparently, didn't think it would be wise to go to you with his missing sister, that you didn't even know about until my brother found her. Instead, he came to us; I believe that makes the FBI a major part of all this."

Agent Bach glared, and Agent Banks stepped back. "What do you want, Agent Eppes?"

"I don't know. Charlie...Liam...Emmy, what do we want?"

It was not the question Charlie had expected to come out of his brother. Liam and Emmy were silent, but Charlie knew something that would help both sides.

"Join forces."

While Liam and Emmy just looked confused, Don and Agent Bach glared at each other. It was obvious they both disliked Charlie's suggestion.

"I'm not sure that would work out," said Agent Bach as calmly as possible.

"Believe it or not, I agree with him," added Don.

Charlie shook his head. "Think about. You guys-" He pointed at Agent Bach and Banks. "You guys need this code, and it is rightfully yours, bu the bomb went off in FBI territory. If the FBI and the NSA work together, they both get what they want."

"And let me make the decision easier," added Liam. "I'm not going with you guys. I don't trust you guys, and I'm definitely not putting my sister in your hands."

Agent Bach shook his head at Liam, but Agent Banks apparently didn't take offense. Bach continued glaring at Don; Don was doing just the same. Several minutes passed before either agent spoke.

"I'm willing to give it a try," said Don.

Agent Bach looked over at Liam and Emmy and then back to Don. "Fine. We'll work together; I'm not sure how well it will work, but let's give it a shot."

XVIIIIV

There were eight people gathered in the war room: two CIA agents, a brother and sister, a mathematician/consultant, and three FBI agents. The two CIA agents certainly didn't look happy, and the FBI agents were mirroring their expressions. It was obvious that the two groups were not keen on working together, but the FBI's "leverage" did not look like they wanted to deal with the NSA alone.

"We've talked to your associates," said Agent Bach; Agent Banks continued to remain silent. "They said you are supposed to deliver the code tomorrow."

"That's what Franklin told us," said Liam, "and Prof. Gordon told me the other day that as far as he knew, the meeting hadn't changed. The problem is, without Franklin, we didn't really know where to go."

"Oh yes. Prof. Gordon. He was nearly as difficult to get a hold of as you and your sister." It was obvious that Agent Bach was not found of Liam's mentor. "We didn't find him until yesterday. Kept insisting that he missed us at the hotel."

Liam stared at Agent Bach. "That-that can't be right."

Agent Bach looked back at him, obviously confused. "What do you mean?"

"I've been talking to Prof. Gordon since Emmy ran. He said he was picked up with everyone else." Liam looked down at his hands. "Why would he lie?"

A thought suddenly struck Don. "Liam, you said Franklin kept Emmy a secret?"

Liam nodded, glancing out of the corner of his eye to his sister; it was obvious he was still in big brother mode. "Franklin didn't want to risk anything slipping out about her; it was for both protection and secrecy."

"How would these guys have found out about her?" wondered Don aloud.

"These men are professionals," said Agent Bach in a rather smug tone. "It's their job to know about these things."

"But they found out so quick," muttered Charlie. "They followed me, but I assume they only did that because of Liam. Emmy never saw anyone until I showed up."

The room was silent for just a moment, and then, Liam's face fell. "No. It can't be."

"That bastard," muttered Agent Bach angrily; Agent Banks had smacked the table.

Everyone in the room was thinking the exact same thing; in the extra two days it had taken for Prof. Gordon to show up, the man would have had ample time to have been meeting with people, people who may have wanted Amelia Keller very badly.

"I trusted him," said Liam, shaking his head several times. Emmy went to set her hand on his shoulder, but the distraught young man quickly stood up from the chair, knocking both her hand and the chair back. "I trusted him! He told me that Emmy would be safe, and he sold her out!"

Liam threaded his fingers into his hair, looking like he was desperately trying to retain control over himself. With one last frustrated groan, Liam threw his hands up in the air and stormed out of the room. Emmy was out of her own seat before the door even shut, and the young girl followed her brother out into the hall. Charlie started to get up from his own seat, but then changed his mind; it would probably be better if Emmy dealt with her brother on her own.

"Despite the way he showed it, Mr. Keller is correct. Prof. Gordon had everyone fooled if he has been leaking information about this project out," said Agent Bach.

"What are we going to do?" asked Don.

"We're going to go ahead with the delivery of the code," said Bach. "We'll bring Liam and Emmy back with us, so we can convince Prof. Gordon that everything is still okay. We'll set up a trap. We'll take Emmy and Liam there tomorrow."

"Not without us," said Colby. "There is no way you guys are taking over the end of this case."

"Besides," said a voice from the doorway; everyone turned and saw Liam. "Emmy is _not_ going."

Bach's draw dropped. "We have to bring her."

"The guys won't know the difference," argued Liam. "They've never met her or seen her."

"What about the tattoo?" demanded Bach; Don hated to admit, but the agent had a point.

"Draw on a fake one." Liam did not appear at though he was going to budge, and Emmy didn't look like she was going to argue with him. "I am not risking my sister's life again."

"He's right."

Everyone turned, trying to figure out who had spoken. Agent Banks was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. "We really can't risk either of them, but Prof. Gordon will know something is very wrong if we have a double for Mr. Keller. If Miss Keller gets hurt or worse, no one is going to want to translate that code; they won't trust us. We'll find a double for Miss Keller, and create an approximate copy of the tattoo. We'll all go to the sting tomorrow." Agent Banks turned toward Don. "Do you have any agents who would fit Miss Keller's description?"

Don nodded. "I can find someone." He was still a bit bewildered by the fact that Agent Banks had spoken.

"Good." Banks turned toward Liam and Emmy. Liam was staring open mouthed at him, and Emmy was grasping his arm tightly. "I know you two don't particularly trust us, but this will bring this entire situation to an end. If you will return to the safe house with Agent Bach and I, we'll inform everyone and then you can get some rest."

Liam and Emmy both nodded blankly, and Banks gave them both a warm smile. Don was actually surprised by Agent Banks' attitude and demeanor; apparently, he wasn't around for intimidation...well, only intimidation.

"If we can get all the details organized," said Banks, apparently taking over for Bach, "the sooner everything can be set into motion. Agent Eppes, I'm sure you already knew this, but we'll be needing your best agents..."

XVIIIIV

Liam swallowed hard and prayed that Prof. Gordon wouldn't notice how nervous he was; sure, he had a right to be nervous, they were delivering a highly sensitive code, but he palms were literally dripping in sweat. That probably wasn't normal. Beside him walked a petite FBI agent dressed in clothes similar to what his sister would wear. She was supposed to say very little and avoid Prof. Gordon as much as she could. That certainly wouldn't set off in alarms in the professor's head; Emmy had never been in the Prof. Gordon fan club.

Even knowing that there were FBI agents scattered throughout the building (which was supposedly an old safehouse) and one was standing beside him along with three NSA agents did nothing to calm Liam's racing heart. He was walking into the proverbial lion's den, and it was very likely that the people around him would only add to the lion's meal. God! He was beginning to sound like the computer games Emmy played. His mind suddenly flew to his sister.

_"Will I ever see her again?"_

_ "Will she ever call me a nerd again or try and get me to play one of her games?"_

_ "Will I see Mom and Dad \again?"_

_ "What are Mom and Dad going to say when they hear about this? ' Mr. and Mrs. Keller, your son was shot while delivering a code for the NSA?' Dad would insist they had the wrong Liam Keller, and Mom...Mom would probably faint."_

Liam was suddenly snapped from his thoughts by someone elbowing him in the ribs; the Emmy double was gesturing toward the people receiving the code. The agent made a very good impersonation of Emmy; Liam was glad their was a thin bullet proof vest on under his sweatshirt.

"Excuse me?" said Liam, finally catching the agent's drift.

"Prof. Gordon said that you will be explaining the code?" said a man, standing only a few feet from him.

Liam straightened up in efforts to appear a little more intimidating. "That I am."

"Good. I heard about the way the information was supposed to be delivered, and I was impressed by the ingenuity." The man smiled at the agent playing his sister, and Liam felt a pang of protectiveness, despite the fact his sister wasn't there; she could have been...but she was safe. "And the dedication."

The man turned back toward Prof. Gordon. "May I see the tattoo?"

Liam looked confused. "Shouldn't you be asking Emmy?" The Emmy double elbowed him again.

Prof. Gordon seemed to ignore Liam. "I understand there is a bit of a hurry, but Emmy probably doesn't want to just stand there while you stare at her shoulder."

The man nodded. "I understand. There is an area where the is more room to work and a bit more privacy..."

Just as the man finished, Liam saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. As he turned to see what it was, Liam felt as though he had been suckered punched in the stomach while someone shoved him to the floor from behind.

The air had rushed from his lungs, and Liam was trying desperately to coax it back in as someone shouted in his left ear, (Yes. Despite everything, he knew it was his left ear), to stay down. He could hear the distinct sound of gun fire going on around him as people shouted all around him. Liam could not tell for the life of him what they were saying. After an eternity, which Liam found out later was actually five minutes, someone was hauling him to his feet and asking him a question over and over.

"Liam?!" shouted the voice; Liam could see a figure in front of him, but his vision was a little blurry at the moment. "Liam?! Are you okay? Are you hit? Do you need a medic?"

It took several seconds for the questions to register in Liam's jumbled mind; his vision finally cleared, and Liam recognized Agent Eppes standing in front of him. "I'm good. I'm good." He tried to give Agent Eppes a smile or a thumbs up or anything to reaffirm that he was okay, but before he got the chance, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he passed clean out.

XVIIIIV

Emmy paced the war room, silently counting how many steps different routes around the room took. The most recent route, which was by far the longest, took fifty four steps. She filed it away somewhere in the back of her mind where she kept mental solutions to computer game puzzles and what little Spanish she remembered from Freshman year of high school. Charlie was with her in the war room, trying to look busy on his laptop. Both of them were waiting for the agents to return, along with Liam.

Emmy was just about to start another route around the war room when the door opened. Don walked into the room, but Emmy's hopeful face fell when she did not see her brother behind him.

"We got 'em," said Don triumphantly, giving Charlie and Emmy both a smile. "We have Prof. Gordon ready to give us a confession; he's too scared of what the men he was dealing with will say about him, so he wants to start the show."

"That's good," said Charlie, nodding. It was obvious he was relieved to see his brother back safe and sound.

Emmy couldn't take it anymore. "Where's Liam?" All sorts of terrible scenarios were running through her head. "Is he okay?"

Don had been dreading this. "Yes."

Emmy apparently didn't buy the short explanation. "Then where is he?"

Don closed his eyes and let out a sigh; he opened them and then responded. "He's being checked out at the hospital."

Emmy's jaw dropped, and her face paled drastically; Don was worried the young woman was going to pass out like her brother. "You-You said he was okay?"

"He is," said Don, hoping to calm the young woman down quickly. Charlie had already gotten up from his own chair and was heading toward Emmy to help diffuse the situation. "He passed out, and we were worried he may have been injured. Your brother seemed to be okay, but we had him checked out just to be sure."

Emmy threaded her hands into her hair, and Don was beginning to see more and more similarities between the siblings. "I have to get to the hospital," said Emmy flatly. "I have to get there now."

Don really didn't know what to say. In a moment, he was going to have to go get Prof. Gordon's confession, and with the bust they had just made, most the agents were busy. It would be just plain rude to stick the girl in a cab or on a bus.

"I'll take her," said Charlie, successfully ending Don's train of thoughts.

"What?"

"I'll take her," Charlie repeated. "Just tell me the hospital, and I'll drive her over."

Don nodded, told his brother the name of the hospital, and watched Charlie and Emmy hurry from the war room. Well, actually, Emmy was hurrying; Charlie was just trying to keep up.

Don sighed and also left the war room. He was headed to the interrogation room where they had left Prof. Gordon to sit and stew. Don was just hoping the he really was ready to talk.

XVIIIIV

Liam was staring at the television in the corner of his ER room. It wasn't like he was paying attention to what was on the screen, but he was having an intense staring contest with it. The program wasn't interesting, he didn't even know what it was, and Liam's mind was actually focused on what was probably going on in his sister's mind.

_"She's probably going crazy,"_ thought Liam; he furrowed his brows. _"Or she expected this...I could see that."_

Luckily, Liam didn't have to wait long to find out what his sister was thinking. The curtain that had been pulled around the bed he was laying in to block the view of him from the door was yanked back, and Emmy was staring at him. Relief flooded across her pale face when she saw him, and she rushed over to the bed and hugged him tightly. Liam felt as though all the air had been squeezed out of him; while he hadn't been severely injured during the bust, a bullet had struck his vest. Emmy just happened to be squeezing the bruise which was forming on his stomach.

"Don't ever do that again!" shouted Emmy; he could hear a distinctive hitch in her voice.

"Emmy?" wheezed Liam; she didn't hear him. "Emmy?!"

She let go of him, and Liam slumped and started sucking in air. "Sorry," said Liam. "Couldn't breath."

"Are you okay?" she asked grabbing a chair and pulling it up to the side of the bed.

"Yeah," said Liam. "It's just a bruise."

Emmy stared at him. "What bruise?"

"I got hit by a bullet in the vest I was wearing," replied Liam. "It's no big deal." _"I was shot; of course it is a big deal!"_

"You were shot?!" Emmy practically screamed.

"My brother left that part out."

Liam looked toward the door and saw Charlie standing there; he felt his face flush. Liam didn't really want to be in the same room with one of the greatest minds in the mathematical world while he was in a hospital gown and no pants.

"Hello, Charlie," muttered Liam, looking down at his hands.

"Are you alright?" asked Charlie. He didn't take up a chair in the room, but Liam could hear the sincerity in his voice. In all honestly, he was glad Charlie hadn't sat down. Liam already didn't have pants on; he didn't want a famous mathematician sitting next to him.

"I'm fine. The doctor told me not too long ago that I could be released. He went to get my papers, but with the way the ER was when I saw it, he might not be back for another day or two." Charlie laughed a little at his joke, but Emmy remained quiet. He turned toward his sister and saw the serious look on her face.

"I'm alright, Emmy," said Liam, patting her arm.

She nodded. "I know." She let out a long sigh. "Let's never be secret agents, okay?" Liam and Charlie both laughed. "I'm serious. You need to stick to your behavioral mapping, and I'll design computer games." Charlie was somewhat surprised to find out what Liam's area of expertise was.

Liam smiled. "I'll do that on one condition."

"What?" asked Emmy.

"Find my pants."

For a moment, Emmy stared at him. Then she broke out laughing.

XVIIIIV

Don didn't like the man sitting across from him, and the fact of the matter was, he didn't have any reason to. Not only had the man nearly sold out the NSA and put possibly millions of lives in danger (Don still wasn't sure what the code was for), but the man had sold out the younger sister of one of his own students. Don had merit not to like the man.

"Who were you put in contact with?" asked Don.

"I cannot be sure if he gave me his real name or not, but I was told his name was Robert McGuire."

"Where did you meet with him?"

"I was blind folded and driven there, but from what I saw of where I was, I was taken to a hotel."

Don's interview with the man went on for quite awhile, sometimes interrupted by a question from Agent Bach. He was supervising Don's interview (at least he said he was), and Don was ready to turn around and tell him off every time he interrupted him with his condescending sounding voice. He originally thought that he disliked Banks more than Bach, but he had been wrong. At the moment, Banks was in with David interviewing one of the men they had caught during the bust.

When it was obvious that the interview was over, and that not only was Prof. Gordon done answering questions, and Don and Bach were done asking them, the interview ended. Don shook his head as he and Bach headed toward the door. Another agent would come in after a few minutes and book Prof. Gordon.

Don suddenly stopped and turned back toward the older man. "Can I ask you one more question?" He wasn't sure why he was being so polite to the man.

"You're going to anyway," replied Prof. Gordon.

"Why did you do all this? Why did you risk your associates' lives? Why did you risk the life of one of your students? Why did you sell out a twenty year old girl?"

"That's four questions." Don hated the man's cocky attitude, and he had a feeling Bach felt the same way. "They all have the same answer: five million dollars."

Don glared at the man and shook his head. As he exited the room, Don couldn't help but wonder how some people put a price on their souls.

XVIIIIV

"Die! Die! Emmy, why won't the damn thing die?!" Liam was hunched over his sister's laptop desperately trying to defeat a creature in one of her RPG games.

"You're fighting an ice creature with ice," responded Emmy, with an exasperated sigh. "The best thing you can do is go back to the checkpoint and switch your powers to something with fire or lightening."

"What?" asked Liam. In the two seconds he'd turned away from the screen, his characters died. "Dammit."

"You're doing better." Emmy gave him a hopeful shrug.

Charlie was watching the two siblings with a smile on his face. In the two days since the bust, the NSA had made arrangements for all members of the groups, sans Franklin and Gordon, to return to Chicago. A few things had to be taken care of first. The tattoo on Emmy's shoulder had been deciphered, which Charlie was still bummed about not being allowed to be present at, and then it had been filled in.

"For security purposes of course," Agent Bach had told them before they had silently backed out of the entire investigation. The nautilus was still present, but all the numbers and symbols had been shaded over in darker colors. Charlie wondered if the tattoo artist had been sworn to secrecy.

"I've heard of people becoming addicted to those games," said Don. He'd been watching the computer screen from the far end of the picnic table's bench. He looked up at Emmy. "Is that true?"

"Only until the night before a project is due," she replied with a smile. She turned the computer away from her brother and exited the game. It wouldn't be long before the two would have to leave for the airport.

Liam stood up from the table, obviously grateful for the excuse to leave the game, and turned toward Charlie and Don. "I can't thank you both enough for what you did...for me and Emmy."

Both Don and Charlie waved off his thanks; Don claiming it was his job, and Charlie saying it was a pleasure to work with two other mathematicians.

"I'm sorry, again, for punching you, Agent Eppes."

Don shook his head. "Bruise is already staring to fade." A phantom pain from the solid punch from a few days before hit him, and he rubbed the fading bruise.

"Keep up your guys' work," said Charlie, giving them both a smile. "Whatever you go with."

Liam and Emmy both nodded, and then Liam checked his watch. "Pack up your laptop, Emmy. We've got to get to the airport."

Emmy started putting away her computer as Charlie started speaking again. "If either of you ever get interested in CalSci, I'm sure I could talk to some people."

Liam and Emmy both nodded given a jumble of thank yous. With a few good byes and hand shakes, Emmy and Liam both walked away to a rental car parked a little way aways.

Don looked at his own watch. "Dammit. I gotta get back to the office."

"Are you still coming for dinner tonight?" asked Charlie.

"Is Dad cooking?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'm coming to dinner."

Charlie shook his head and waved goodbye to his brother. He shoved his hands into his pockets and began his walk back to his office. Amita met him along the away.

"You're a good guy," said Amita as Charlie put his arm around her shoulders.

"I am?"

"Yep." She gave him a sly smile.

"What?"

"You know what good guys do?"

"Help distraught brothers find their missing sisters?"

"That. And they take their girlfriends out to the dinner they promised before they helped the brother and sister. Oh, and since she helped, he buys her dessert."

Charlie sighed. "Where do you want to eat?"

"I was thinking Thai."

_**Finem**_


End file.
